Archives

While we wouldn’t get so dramatic as to say that money is the root of all evil, there are times when the pound (or euro) signs flashing before people’s eyes can seriously cloud their judgement; particularly in business.
Of course cost is a concern for any company; but thinking about the bottom line first can be harmful. This is no more true than in food production. Cost first development impacts taste, production, welfare - both for workers and animals - and more.
The pic below sums up the issue perfectly. Sure there is always someone who can do it cheaper, but at what cost?

Quality of ingredients

News moves quickly these days - yesterday’s scandal is tomorrow’s fish and chip paper as the saying goes. And yet bad news is tough to wash away. In 2013, traces of horse meat were found in... Read More

For many years, the phrase ‘frozen food’ was, for many, not uttered with positive connotations. For a large number of people, ‘frozen food’ meant cheap and nasty ready meals, full of highly processed ingredients and designed to be as affordable as possible - generally achieved by cutting quality.
It is still easy to find such frozen food products in our supermarkets, which in turn means that this snobbery is still very much present. However, is it really fair to view all frozen food products in the same way?

Frozen in time

The practice of freezing food has a long history, with the Chinese using ice cellars as a means of preserving food as long ago as 3,000 BC. It was Clarence Birdseye who developed modern freezing processes in 1917, perfecting the quick freezing process to lock in as many nutrients as possible. Frozen food continued to be popular throughout the 20th... Read More

Street food is not a new phenomenon, far from it. For centuries, civilisations have served food from carts in markets across the world. Traditionally it’s been seen as a cheaper and less glamorous style of eating, but a cultural change is occurring, particularly in the UK where street food generally means cheap burgers and greasy doner kebabs.
Okay, so these chip vans haven’t disappeared from a streets; and nor will they. But there is a new consumer in town, a consumer who wants fast food certainly, but fast food which is delicious and high quality.
Great food doesn’t have to mean fine dining and from the traditional kebab to oyster bars, street food in the UK is certainly stepping up its game. But we’ve still got a lot to learn. So where can you go to experience the best street food in the world?
#5Where? Jordan - AmmanWhat to taste? Shawarma
Amman is a lively,...

(Featured image credit: By Roland Zumbühl (Picswiss), Arlesheim (Commons:Picswiss project) , via Wikimedia Commons)
“Street food” is nothing new. In fact, small fried fish were a popular snack food item in Ancient Greece, while evidence of street food purveyors was found by the archaeologists who painstakingly uncovered the two thousand year old streets of Pompeii in Italy. From Ancient China to 1300s Egypt, street food has been a common global trend throughout history.
Fast forward to the 20th century, when holidays to Africa and Asia would often see travellers coming across street food vendors for the first time.
Steaming bowls of snail porridge at the Djemmaa-el-Fnaa in Marrakesh, bawan dumplings from the Ningxia Night Market in Taipei, bowls of noodles cooked at tiny carts by most roadsides in Bangkok: street food is a cultural and economic phenomenon that has long been traditional outside of Europe.

When the first Indian curry house - the Hindoostanee Curry House in London - opened in Britain in 1809, it closed three years later as a result of a lack of business. Fast forward to today, however, and it’s clear that Indian cuisine has had a huge impact on the way we eat in Britain. Curry is now one of the nation’s favourites, with weekend takeaways, Indian cookbooks and the increase in the stock of Indian ingredients found in our supermarkets all testament to Britain’s love of a good curry.

Before the 1800s, Indian food was a mystery: 18th century England was an era of pies, boiled and roasted meats and puddings. However, Britain’s occupation of the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947 - The British Raj - saw military personnel and British civil servants... Read More